Garmin Forerunner 410: A good buy at £130?

I would like to know if it is a good buy at £130 (with HRM). I know that there are some people have issues with the bezel touch (but most of the users say, you get used to it). I wanted to know if at this price is it worth it and just manage with bezel touch.

I think its a bargain at that price! I love mine and and the only time I had an issue with the bezel was when I accidently caught it - but I learned my lesson and it is very simple to lock. I'm a bit sad but I also love looking over the data on garmin connect.

This is great value. As others have said the bezel really isn't an issue if you lock it whilst running.

ivor: running with a HRM has nothing to do with having heart concerns. It's a great training/racing aid which amongst plenty of other things, will tell you if you're working too hard or not hard enough. Also, it's really handy for knowing your resting HR which gives you a good idea of how the training's taking effect.

Fair enough. I suppose I do use them in the gym on machines that have them.

It's just that beyond a certain point it's something that you become aware of without needing visual feedback. I toyed with the idea of getting a Garmin that featured that facility, but decided that I probably wouldn't use it.

It's certainly a good price. I was undecided between the 210 and 410. Was going to go for the 410 until I heard some good AND bad things about the touch bezel. I went and tried them both - you'll either love or hate the touch bezel. For me... I didn't like it and got the 210 with a HRM (I'm 58 and like to ensure I don't push my HR too much). I also got a footpod thrown in for free.

For £197 I really like the combination and it has helped me improve my fitness/speed.

Treho - I've had my 410 for a couple of months now. Paid a similar price to you and also had the HRM bundled in. The bezel is a bit fiddly, but I've had no issue or major frustration / mishap with it whatsoever - got used to it within the first couple of times I used it. As suggested above, just make sure you lock it when you're about to start your run.

I've barely scratched the surface of the features that it has available yet, as I'm still very new to running and have deliberately been keeping things relatively simple, but it picks up the satellites fairly swiftly (I often pop it out the back for a couple of minutes before I set off, so it's ready to go when I am), tracks the routes accurately, and is easy to toggle between mile/km laps and paces depending on what I'm trying to achieve on a particular run.

Has certainly added a dimension and further interest to my training, and being a bit of a statto I enjoy browsing back through previous runs, lap times and seeing the evidence of my improvements on the Connect website that you upload your data to.

I'm probably still a month or two at least away from making use of the pre-programmed sessions it's capable of, but I know that I will make good use of both those and the HRM in due course.

I bought one at the weekend, just done my first 5k run with it - it's cool seeing your splits per km properly, can't wait to download it and satiate my need for stats.

The bezel is a bit cacky at first to be honest, trying to set the time zone nearly lead me to throwing it through a window...... but even over the last few days I'm getting used to it. While fiddly, I'm now pretty confident I can make it do what I want 95% of the time and I'd expect that to get up to about 99% after a couple of weeks!

After using my garmin forerunner 410 for past two weeks, I like to say that I am compltely delighted with this purchase.

I experienced no bezel issues, took 5-6 minutes to get used to the menu system. Data uploading to garmin connect is seamless. Features are far advanced than what is required by runner with my capabilities and experience. And most importantly looks good on your wrist and can be worn as day-to-day watch.

Being a person who like to work with numbers, I use garmin connect, garmin training centre and fetcheveryone to upload, view and analyse various data and statistics for my runs.

Overall 100% satisisfied with the purchase and would recommend it to anyone who is in market to buy a running watch at a very resonable price with advanced features.

Thanks to everyone who replied to this thread and helped me choosing this product.

Thinking of getting one of these watches as I'm wanting to train for a marathon next year. I've just got a couple of questions.

Can you programme it to alert you at various time intervals (and in the perfect world be able to tell you whether you're supposed ot be running, walking or jogging). Also can you set it to vibrate as well as beep (or both).

Have a look here, Susan. DC Rainmaker does the most thorough reviews of GPS watches on the internet, for my money.

I started off for a long time with the 405 which is pretty similar but lacks a few of the 410's features. It's all you need unless you ever decide to step up the distance and need longer battery life, or do trail stuff where you need better navigation functions.

Hmmm, my 405CX is about to die I think, the battery loses charge quickly now so, rather than just get a new battery was thinking of upgrading to a newer model but the 410 price seems good now, anybody know what it's battery life is like? I did look at the 610, 910 and a few others, anybody got good reviews for these or others?

Susan - 410 has option of interval training (time or distance based) though I am yet to use it. Also 410 has option to alert user using beep (sound), but the functionality of vibration is not available (available in 910). Like Radicchio says it is worth reading DCRainmaker reviews (I know they are lenghty, but conclusions are useful) on piece of equipment you are planning to buy. Also, 410 has option of developing advanced workouts that you can create using garmin training centre software (avaialble for free from garmin website) and load onto your 410.

Andi - battery life is supposed to be about 8hrs of activity time. I have not tested this as most of my runs last about only an hour. But I go on 4-5 runs before I have to charge it again. If you are not running it in training mode then I think it will over couple of weeks or more.

Treho, many thanks for the info. Was hovering over the buy now option when a (good) friend offered to get me a (very) early Birthday present so now awaiting delivery of the 910xt.

During my investigations I stumbled upon DCRainmaker and his reviews, very comprehensive and amazed how he manages to reply to the 100's of follow up questions - well worth a visit if you have some spare time.

I upgraded from a FR205 a couple of months ago and I'm mostly pleased. No problems with the bezel after getting used to it. But I've managed to accidentally pause the timer a few times when trying to lock the bezel (press start/pause and reset together); including once in a race which was very frustrating as I didn't notice for a mile.

It picks up satellites way quicker than my 205 did but the battery life isn't as good and the data upload via ANT+ is slow.

The biggest problem for me is that it completely loses GPS lock and sometimes freezes when following long (50km+) courses, plus turning cues don't appear until uselessly late. I've not found many other reports of this problem but it makes the route functionality next to useless for cycling.

Previously bookmarked threads are now visible in "Followed Threads". You can also manage notifications on these threads from the "Forum Settings" section of your profile settings page to prevent being sent an email when a reply is made.

Runner's World is a publication of Hearst Magazines UK which is the trading name of The National Magazine Company Ltd, 72 Broadwick Street, London, W1F 9EP. Registered in England 112955. All rights reserved. Runner's World, Part of the Hearst UK wellbeing network